Sept 2017 FLBR BS Room

[FD]

Josh and I hit Grape Hammock around 9.  The place looks great considering.  They have moved the office shack to the east side of the ramp because they're building a new office in the old location.

The water is still up 3 ft from normal. The river is running at at least 5 mph. My 36 volt TM would not hold position in the current. There is so much vegetation gone the south end does not look the same.

We started outside of Jacks and picked up a couple small ones and moved north to 27 palms. Most of my land marks are gone. 75% of Big Grassy is gone. Tried fishing around the channel marker but the weather had picked up and it was rough. Went down the west wall and the outside 100 yards of grass is missing. Ducked in behind Brahma island to get out of the wind and picked 10 small ones on the outside edges in about an hour.

Fished from 9 to 1 and caught 12. All in quiet water, all on a slow presentation of the vibe worm. Not at all what I expected. These fish are messed up and not likely to be better anytime soon. The classic may be a challenge.




Sent from the end of the paved road.....

[Capt. BassinLou]

Thank you for the report Lee. Every Classic so far brings with it a challenge... lol Oh well, we'll  do what we can.

[BarryFL]

Josh and I hit Grape Hammock around 9.  The place looks great considering.  They have moved the office shack to the east side of the ramp because they're building a new office in the old location.

The water is still up 3 ft from normal. The river is running at at least 5 mph. My 36 volt TM would not hold position in the current. There is so much vegetation gone the south end does not look the same.

We started outside of Jacks and picked up a couple small ones and moved north to 27 palms. Most of my land marks are gone. 75% of Big Grassy is gone. Tried fishing around the channel marker but the weather had picked up and it was rough. Went down the west wall and the outside 100 yards of grass is missing. Ducked in behind Brahma island to get out of the wind and picked 10 small ones on the outside edges in about an hour.

Fished from 9 to 1 and caught 12. All in quiet water, all on a slow presentation of the vibe worm. Not at all what I expected. These fish are messed up and not likely to be better anytime soon. The classic may be a challenge.




Sent from the end of the paved road.....

Maybe the flow will be down to 2-3 MPH by the classic.

[SFL BassHunter]

Hey at least you caught some fish! 12 fish in 4 hours ain't all that bad. Good to hear Grape Hammocks is ok and it looks like we may be hurricane free for this classic lol. Hopefully we will have good weather throughout, and can concentrate on just catching fish, eating good food, and having a few drinks!

[Lipripper]

Thanks for the report Lee and glad y'all caught some fish. Sounds like Irma made some changes to the area and made it a challenge for y'all to figure out and you found some. 

[Deadeye]

Sounds Good Lee, thanks for the report.

[FD]

Kissimmee is down almost a foot since Sunday but Toho is still a foot above control. As fast as they are pulling Kissimmee down, the current should be manageable by next weekend. The only problem is the heavy rain forecast starting Saturday and continuing all week.


Sent from the end of the paved road.....

[FloridaFishinFool]

The bass were on fire yesterday at my canal spot at SeaWorld Orlando. They hit on almost everything I threw at them. I did not get any hits on a rattle trap.

I targeted the bass 3 ways bank fishing the canal.

The first way was in watching schools of baitfish swim in both directions up and down the canal. They created a unique wake on the surface that was easily identifiable and every once in a while a bass would hit on them picking some off. So I would then target that actively feeding bass and caught a couple that way.

The second way I targeted some bass was across the canal was a spillover concrete water shoot with a small amount of water flowing across it into the canal.

So I used a rubber worm and a swimming fluke and would cast it across the canal and land it on the concrete and work it into the canal slowly as if it were food coming in with the incoming water. I caught two bass back to back that were sitting there waiting for food to come into the canal at that location. But after catching those two bass in that same spot I did not catch another bass there the rest of the evening.

So the third way I targeted feeding bass in the canal was to work lures parallel to the bank and close to the bank. I used a spinner, a swimbait, and rubber worm and fluke. One nice bass came off the bank and nailed the spinner zipping by. He was a fun one who put up the best fight of the day.

The rest of them came from working weedless rubber across the lily pads slowly. It was lots of fun and I got to watch screaming tourists ride the roller coaster at SeaWorld while fishing surrounded by woods in my own private little world. I hope they never develop this place next to SeaWorld.

[cport]

The bass were on fire yesterday at my canal spot at SeaWorld Orlando. They hit on almost everything I threw at them. I did not get any hits on a rattle trap.

I targeted the bass 3 ways bank fishing the canal.

The first way was in watching schools of baitfish swim in both directions up and down the canal. They created a unique wake on the surface that was easily identifiable and every once in a while a bass would hit on them picking some off. So I would then target that actively feeding bass and caught a couple that way.

The second way I targeted some bass was across the canal was a spillover concrete water shoot with a small amount of water flowing across it into the canal.

So I used a rubber worm and a swimming fluke and would cast it across the canal and land it on the concrete and work it into the canal slowly as if it were food coming in with the incoming water. I caught two bass back to back that were sitting there waiting for food to come into the canal at that location. But after catching those two bass in that same spot I did not catch another bass there the rest of the evening.

So the third way I targeted feeding bass in the canal was to work lures parallel to the bank and close to the bank. I used a spinner, a swimbait, and rubber worm and fluke. One nice bass came off the bank and nailed the spinner zipping by. He was a fun one who put up the best fight of the day.

The rest of them came from working weedless rubber across the lily pads slowly. It was lots of fun and I got to watch screaming tourists ride the roller coaster at SeaWorld while fishing surrounded by woods in my own private little world. I hope they never develop this place next to SeaWorld.

Is that the canal that runs parallel to International Drive? I fished that with a frog and got nothing but gar. I fished at this spot (marker):

The canal runs right along the fence line of the park.

[FloridaFishinFool]

Chris I fish South of that location. Across Central Florida Parkway. I access it off I-Drive easily seen from google satellite. Same water though...

I have fished it for years and never caught any gar. It is an enjoyable location near the crazy tourist world. A site surrounded by woods in the middle of lala land! I love it there when working in the area. A nice, peaceful getaway surrounded by tourists... on the other side of the woods.

[cport]

Chris I fish South of that location. Across Central Florida Parkway. I access it off I-Drive easily seen from google satellite. Same water though...

I have fished it for years and never caught any gar. It is an enjoyable location near the crazy tourist world. A site surrounded by woods in the middle of lala land! I love it there when working in the area. A nice, peaceful getaway surrounded by tourists... on the other side of the woods.

OK I think I see what you are talking about. Do you park at the Taco Bell?

[Lipripper]

I see one thing for sure you shouldn't go hungry there with all them eating spots so close together. 

[Capt. BassinLou]

Whew.... I had to work my butt off for this one, but I just culled 18.5 with a 20" fish to hit 100"!! Woohoo!!

[SFL BassHunter]

Whew.... I had to work my butt off for this one, but I just culled 18.5 with a 20" fish to hit 100"!! Woohoo!!

Congrats on 100!

[Capt. BassinLou]

I went fishing at my playground today at around 430pm. I went to a bigger lake at first, and there were hundreds of bait fish around. Behind the bait fish were bass hunting them. I couldn't coax these fish to bite, so with a lot of time left on the clock I moved to the smaller lake. I began to notice a lot of activity along the shore line until I figured out the bass were staging along the grass line pointing towards the bank, ambushing bait.
I began casting my centipede between the grass line and the bank and the fishing was none stop for close to 45 min. Then the bite slowed down. As time started to wind down I starting heading to my car until I decided to make one more cast out towards the middle of the lake. As soon as the rings settled, the line started moving outwards. I set the hook, and the fight began. She gave me 4 strong runs with drag peeling on each run, until I was able to turn her towards the bank and finally land her. I was using  my M, Fast, rod again with freshly spooled 10lb mono.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Congrats on 100!

Thanks bud!!

[FloridaFishinFool]

OK I think I see what you are talking about. Do you park at the Taco Bell?

No, but I have seen others fish the canal from that parking lot. Get back out on I-Drive, head South and just past Moe's SW Grill are some woods, and then a small utility building, probably a lift station or water pump facility. I pull in there and drive around the little building around behind it and park there or just drive down along the canal.

It is a great place to bass fish in the middle of crazy tourist area. And while fishing you can look right up the canal towards SeaWorld and watch the tourists ride the roller coaster for added entertainment while fishing.

It is kind of strange sometimes having Disney's Epcot and SeaWorld roller coasters for fishing background visuals.

I see one thing for sure you shouldn't go hungry there with all them eating spots so close together. 

Lip you are right. There are a ton of restaurants in that area. The best one's are on SandLake Road on the west side of I-4. Big money over there and one high end restaurant after another over there. And the crazy crowds and traffic to go along with it.

Congrats on the 100 Lou!

[cport]

No, but I have seen others fish the canal from that parking lot. Get back out on I-Drive, head South and just past Moe's SW Grill are some woods, and then a small utility building, probably a lift station or water pump facility. I pull in there and drive around the little building around behind it and park there or just drive down along the canal.

Got it, I know exactly where you are talking about! I stopped there and fished at night last time we were visiting Disney, I was staying about 12 minutes away. Didn't catch any, but it was night and you know how that can go. Lots of pads, especially where the two canals meet, looks real fishy. I'd like to fish it early morning some time, maybe next time we are down there hangin with Mickey.

[Deadeye]

Congrads on the Century Club Lou!

[j102]

Lou,
Congrats! Niceeeee!

[Capt. BassinLou]

Congrads on the Century Club Lou!

Lou,
Congrats! Niceeeee!

Thanks guys!! I don't hit the CC often, but when I do, its special. All my culls came from bank fishing, which is why hitting the CC this time around was special. Culling from the bank can be pretty challenging, I have/had a gameplan in mind, and staying mentally focused to cull 17.5" and 18.5" fish was not easy. I still have a couple days left, and hopefully I can capitalize on this momentum. 

[cport]

Thanks guys!! I don't hit the CC often, but when I do, its special. All my culls came from bank fishing, which is why hitting the CC this time around was special. Culling from the bank can be pretty challenging, I have/had a gameplan in mind, and staying mentally focused to cull 17.5" and 18.5" fish was not easy. I still have a couple days left, and hopefully I can capitalize on this momentum. 

How is it challenging to you? I find that the most challenging aspect is being mindful of your backcast area and the, for lack of a better term, "rod zone" to keep the bait and/or my rod from hitting brush, grass, maiden cane, etc during my cast. I've got a lot more mindful of it since snapping a few rods, but sometimes when I am trying to chase a boil or rethrow quickly to a missed take, I forget to check.

And congrats on the CC  . Its what I strive for. I have to fish better waters, my larger fish are few and far between.

[Capt. BassinLou]

How is it challenging to you? I find that the most challenging aspect is being mindful of your backcast area and the, for lack of a better term, "rod zone" to keep the bait and/or my rod from hitting brush, grass, maiden cane, etc during my cast. I've got a lot more mindful of it since snapping a few rods, but sometimes when I am trying to chase a boil or rethrow quickly to a missed take, I forget to check.

And congrats on the CC  . Its what I strive for. I have to fish better waters, my larger fish are few and far between.

Great question Cport. The challenging aspect for me, was in targeting bigger fish from the bank.   You hear often, big bait bigger fish, and I believe that. In this case however, I had to stick with my game plan that a small thin 4" piece of plastic was going to accomplish this for me. I usually try to catch my big fish from my boat, and this time around the situation changed and had to change strategies. Cport, when your CC day arrives, and it will, you will quickly understand what I'm trying to say. Culling fish from the bank with bigger fish can be quite challenging when your fishing locations are limited.

[cport]

  Culling fish from the bank with bigger fish can be quite challenging when your fishing locations are limited.

That part I definitely agree with. Limited time is an issue for me as well, coupled with the limited amount of rods. This translates into time consuming reties if you want to try different baits and limited techniques; with a boat, you have a readily available arsenal that can be simply picked up and deployed.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

[West6550]

Thanks. I found some fish by the ramp behind the Air Museum. Lots of damaged docks and many submerged due to water being so high. Must be a good lake for specks because that's what all the other boats were after.

I have heard it is. I live just a few miles from it and have caught a few fish in the pocket in the NW corner and some off the point on the SW (depending if wind isn't terrible on it)

I have fished those docks you are talking about and have yet to find many. I have picked up one at the unused ramp behind the air field.

The NW corner has always been better to me.

Also Lake Tennessee just south of it gets a lot less pressure and holds a ton of fish. You have to back in off the road though. Nice ramp once backed in.